'Coral Red' Verbena
"You feel the presence
of known ghosts & hear somewhere at
the back of the wind a low keen,
slow & full of sorrow, buried
under the years of verbena
and lavender."
-Jim Barnes,
b.1933
b.1933
Verbena pedula 'Superbena Coral Red' is also marketed as Verbena pedulla superba 'Coral Red,' or Verbena x hybrida 'Coral Red.' It is suited as a groundcover in the xeriscape garden, or for fountaining out of baskets or window boxes.
It is loved by butterflies & other pollinators. Everblooming coral flowers begin in May & last for the entirety of summer. These flowers are larger than for the majority of verbena.
This hybrid grows a foot or eighteen inches tall, trailing to a three-foot or wider spread. It has a rapid growth rate, is not fussy about soil type, is resistant to powdery mildew, & is not as sensitive in the rainy season as most verbenas, so long as the soil drains well.
In this same hardy Superbena series are 'Burgundy,' 'Dark Blue,' 'Neon Rose,' 'Purple,' 'Lilac Blue,' 'Dark Purple' & 'Pink Shades.' The Superbenas along with the Babylon series & the Tukana series are at the vanguard of a verbena revolution for temperate gardeners seeking something akin to V. canadensis 'Homestead Purple' which for a long time was the only creeping verbena that thrived in Puget Sound gardens.
They are still not hardy below 20 degrees Fahrenheit, & could be at some risk during wet winters, but they do come very close to the strengths of 'Homestead.' These new strains have been winning every conceivable award region by region since 2002, & by 2005 hit mass-production levels at reasonable prices, & now seem certain to become garden standards for zones 7 through 11, so long as they can live up to the hype.